Boys' Swimmer Of The Year: James Wood's Brian Baker

Posted: March 26, 2014
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — A year ago, James Wood senior Brian Baker wanted to focus on the 200 individual medley, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, and he swam at the state meet in the former two events.

Baker didn’t swim the 100 free or 200 free at all for the Colonels last year. But this year, those were the events he wanted to focus on, and he wound up having the area’s best times and state finishes in those two events.

Basically, if Brian Baker sets his mind to do something, something pretty special is usually going to happen.

“He did a great job stepping up and doing the things that we needed him to do for the team,” said James Wood first-year coach Kaitlyn Knott. “But he really wanted to focus on the 100 free and 200 free, and it was fantastic to see him drop so much time.”

Baker did it all during the 2013-14 campaign, and he did it exceptionally well. And his performance earns him recognition as The Winchester Star Boys’ Swimmer of the Year. Baker is the first in James Wood history to win this award.

Baker’s junior teammate Conor Babington had strong credentials for the award as well.

Babington had the area’s top state finish (third in the 100 butterfly at the Group 4A meet) and he led the area in three events — the 50 free, the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly.

But Baker scored just as many individual points as Babington did at the state meet (27) and he scored more points than Babington did in the postseason overall. Baker scored 28 individual points to Babington’s 27 at the 4A North Region meet, and propelled by the area’s only boys’ win at the conference level (the 200 free), Baker scored 37 individual points to Babington’s 33 at the Conference 21 meet.

Baker also had the area’s best meter times in three events — the 100-meter freestyle (55.34), 200 free (2:00.79) and 200 individual medley (2:28.27) — and he was the only swimmer to rank in the area’s top three in more than four events. Baker had at least the area’s second-best time in a remarkable six events, achieving top times of 25.80 in the 50 free, 1:13.75 in the 100 breast and 1:04.76 in the 100 fly.

Baker also helped James Wood’s 200-meter medley relay team earn the top time in the area (2:02.74 in meters).

Striving to be so good at so many things is all Baker has ever known.

“When I was younger one of my coaches really stressed learning all the strokes and being good at all the strokes, so we can do things like individual medleys,” Baker said.

In his first season at James Wood after transferring from Sherando, Baker’s junior year focus was the 200 individual medley, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke. He was Northwestern District champion in the 200 IM and 100 breast and swam both those events at the Region II meet, but decided to go with the 100 butterfly rather than the breast at the state meet.

But Baker — who hopes to swim at the collegiate level — wanted to boost his 100 free and 200 free times this year through James Wood and his club team, Valley Swim Team Gators.

“Coach Knott was very helpful in letting me swim events that I do well in,” Baker said.

Baker more than took advantage — in yard times, he dropped 1.5 seconds in the 100 free and four seconds in the 200 free from the start of the season in November until the state meet in February, where he earned his fastest-ever times.

Along the way, he showed his fortitude.

After winning the 200 free at the Conference 21 meet, Baker swam 4.4 seconds slower in taking seventh at the 4A North Region meet. Sherando’s James Williams and Mark Restrepo were among the contingent that finished ahead of Baker.

Knott said Baker experimented with a new approach in terms of pacing himself in the 200 free, and Baker added that he was sick and suffering from stomach issues. But Baker didn’t let his performance have a carryover effect — he powered through the 100 free to take third.

“I wanted to finish well,” Baker said.

That desire to show what he was made of was even greater at the state meet.

In 2013, there were only two public school state meets for all of Virginia, one for Group AAA schools and one for Group AA and A schools. In the combined Group AA/A meet Friday preliminaries, Baker didn’t come close to qualifying for the top 16 Saturday finals — he placed 24th in the 200 IM and 25th in the 100 fly.

Baker simply said, “I didn’t have the times last year.” But he was determined to have them this year.

“I really wanted to soar and spread my wings, show that I can swim fast, and show what I can do for college,” Baker said. “I finished pretty well.”

Baker did indeed.

He swam a 200-yard free time of 1:48.82 to take fourth in Group 4A at the state meet — two seconds faster than his prelim time and 2.5 seconds faster than his top high school time coming into the meet. Baker then swam his fastest 100 free time of the year in the prelims (49.86) before taking seventh in the final.

For Knott — particularly in the postseason — she felt like a fan just as much as she felt like a coach. Barely removed from her own competitive swimming days — the 2008 graduate of Cumberland Valley High School (Pa.) swam in high school and played water polo in high school and at Penn State — Knott couldn’t help but be impressed with Baker’s ability to improve and rise to the occasion.

“I remember the nerves that you would have,” Knott said. “As I was standing by the pool, I was so excited for him. He really did well.”

Baker hopes to continue to drop time in the future, and he hopes he can do so at the college level while also showing his love for his country. Baker has applied to service academies and looked at various ROTC programs.

“It’s been my dream since I was in middle school [to be involved with the military],” he said. “I’ve always just really loved my country and wanted to serve it in the highest capacity I could.”

Knott said Baker definitely served James Wood well this year.

“He did a great job with the team this year,” Knott said. “He’s very mature and knows what’s important. I’m glad I got to coach him.”